User:Smallchief/Williams

User:Smallchief/Folsom tradition

The Piro were closely related to the Tompiro who lived to their northeast in the Salinas region of New Mexico. Both peoples are believed by most authorities to have spoken Tanoan languages. When first encountered by the Spanish in the 16th century, the Piro lived in the Rio Grande River valley for a distance of about 60 mile from north to south in 21st century Socorro County. Beyond the narrow ribbon of green along the Rio Grande the surrounding hinterlands are desert. The Piro people, along with several other Puebloan peoples, were probably descendants of the Mogollon culture, the Ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi), and the Casas Grandes peoples. These cultures flourished until about 1450 in a large area of the southwestern United states and neighboring Mexico. The 15th century population of the Piro is estimated to have been about seven thousand people. The Piro's largest town, called San Pascual Pueblo by the Spanish, had 1,500 rooms and a population of about 2,000 people.

Very little is known about the origin of the Tompiros. They spoke a language closely related to that of the Piro Indians who lived to their west in the Rio Grande Valley. The Piro and Tompiro languages are believed by most authorities to belong to the Tanoan language family.